Bloodhearts

Chapter three: Trust.

The enormous bang deafens me for a moment. Dust is flying all around me and I'm just slowly becoming aware that I'm trapped in a very small space between bricks and pieces of metal. I'm already drenched in water coming from some broken pipe, and the chaos around me makes it possible for me to slip out of my ropes, but not my handcuffs although I try.

I see Cory lying close by with his leg caught under a huge pillar. He's biting his lip hard and squeezing his eyes shut. He must be in a lot of pain. I move closer to try and understand what he's going through. The look on his face isn't unfamiliar to me, it's similar to the one the living have just before they get eaten. I remember that look very well.

Cory looks around, eyes landing on me pretty quickly. They widen when I step closer.

I frown and stop moving. Maybe this is too fast for the both of us. I don't take my eyes of off this strange living, and watch him desperately try to free himself from the pillar. The movements only cause him more pain and he grits his teeth. The sound is making me cringe. He stops to stare at me. I think he knows I have been watching him the entire time. In the end, he lets out a weird sound and continues to stare at me.

"Are you just gonna stand there and stare at me? Aren't you gonna eat me or something? Or help me if you had actually had a mind of your own..." He mumbles that last part and I raise an eyebrow, tilting my head to the side. He says those things out loud, but he seems to be talking to himself more than anything else.

He copies my movement and my expression, tilting his head to the side and raises his eyebrow, but with a defiant look. It sort of freaks me out, so I stumble back a bit.

That makes him roll his eyes at me.

"Oh, come on," he says and waves his arms in annoyance. He makes a face again and tries to pull himself free. It's still not working.

I wonder when he's going to realize that pillar is too heavy to move on his own.

"No!" I wheeze and a pair of huge eyes meet mine.

Oh, that's right.

He doesn't know I talk - and by talk, I mean the occasional stammering and yammering. I can usually get a few syllables out at a time. I just hope he understands.

Cory tries to back away from me, but no matter what he tries, he can't. I use this opportunity to bend my creaky knees and look into his eyes. Those eyes are strangely appealing to me and I forget all about the fact that I'm most likely scaring the living daylights out of him. When he nearly squeaks, I realize what I'm crossing several boundaries. My hand is nearly touching his face despite the handcuffs. I pull back, so I can focus on his face with all its features and not only his eyes. He doesn't look like he believes what he's seeing. I gotta say I feel the same way.

Wait.... Did I say feel?

"What are you doing?" he asks me in a low voice. His eyes are still huge.

I pull further back, so that he won't notice how shocked I am by my own behavior. My intention is to leave, but there is no way out. Bad for me, bad for him. I can't control my cravings if I get too hungry - and I am always hungry. It can hit me like a bullet from a gun. I just have to eat. Except this time, the urge to run is stronger.
This is... odd.

"You can't leave. There's no way out of here," Cory points out as if I'm missing the obvious.

I turn back to him and let out a wheeze.

"Stop complaining," he replies. "It's not your leg that's caught under a pillar here."

I want to say something. Cory continues to surprise me. Judging by the fear I saw in his eyes just moments ago, he should be freaking out by now. Maybe I should've eaten him. But for some reason he has decided not to fear me like any sensible person would and I have decided not to eat him which any sensible zombie should. That's what the living are calling us. Maybe this one isn't so afraid of me. Maybe I'm not as hungry as I thought. Whatever this is, it's a first for both of us. Where exactly does that leave us?